Problems

In 25 boxes there are spheres of different colours. It is known that for any \(k\) where \(1 \leq k \leq 25\) in any \(k\) of the boxes there are spheres of exactly \(k+1\) different colours. Prove that a sphere of one particular colour lies in every single box.

When water is drained from a pool, the water level \(h\) in it varies depending on the time \(t\) according to the function \(h (t) = at^2 + bt + c\), and at the time \(t_0\) of when the draining is ending, the equalities \(h (t_0) = h' (t_0) = 0\) are satisfied. For how many hours does the pool drain completely, if in the first hour the water level in it is reduced by half?

A game of ’Battleships’ has a fleet consisting of one \(1\times 4\) square, two \(1\times 3\) squares, three \(1\times 2\) squares, and four \(1\times 1\) squares. It is easy to distribute the fleet of ships on a \(10\times 10\) board, see the example below. What is the smallest square board on which this fleet can be placed? Note that by the rules of the game, no two ships can be placed on horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent squares.

In the \(4 \times 4\) square, the cells in the left half are painted black, and the rest – in white. In one go, it is allowed to repaint all cells inside any rectangle in the opposite colour. How, in three goes, can one repaint the cells to get the board to look like a chessboard?

What is the smallest number of ‘L’ shaped ‘corners’ out of 3 squares that can be marked on an \(8\times 8\) square grid, so that no more ’corners’ would fit?

An airline flew exactly 10 flights each day over the course of 92 days. Each day, each plane flew no more than one flight. It is known that for any two days in this period there will be exactly one plane which flew on both those days. Prove that there is a plane that flew every day in this period.

10 children, including Billy, attended Billy’s birthday party. It turns out that any two children picked from those at the party share a grandfather. Prove that 7 of the children share a grandfather.

A class has 25 pupils. It is known that for any two girls in the class, the number of male friends they have in the class is different. What is the maximum number of girls that it is possible for there to be in the class?

In the king’s prison, there are five cells numbered from 1 to 5. In each cell, there is one prisoner. Kristen persuaded the king to conduct an experiment: on the wall of each cell she writes at one point a number and at midnight, each prisoner will go to the cell with the indicated number (if the number on the wall coincides with the cell number, the prisoner does not go anywhere). On the following night at midnight, the prisoners again must move from their cell to another cell according to the instructions on the wall, and they do this for five nights. If the location of prisoners in the cells for all six days (including the first) is never repeated, then Kristen will be given the title of Wisdom, and the prisoners will be released. Help Kristen write numbers in the cells.

The \(KUB\) is a cube. Prove that the ball, \(CIR\), is not a cube. (\(KUB\) and \(CIR\) are three-digit numbers, where different letters denote different numbers).